To the Death and Back, We'll Fight Together
by Kendianna
Summary: When the Alpha pack comes into Beacon Hills, a frightened Chris Argent has no one to call but the hunters he trusts most. But then a certain uncle goes awol, and the Alphas turn out to not exactly be the enemy they were expecting.
1. Chapter 1

The air was thick with apprehension and the sheer physical exhaustion of the room's occupants rendered it cloying - almost sticky. It was the peak of summer and the proportion of misery was heavily influenced by the intense heat that washed over the two, almost as much so as the many recent family deaths.

At the living room table of the Argent home sat Chris and Allison, father and daughter, hunters of the supernatural, a couple of especially sad people. The last few weeks had brought about the death of Chris' sister, wife, and father. Allison had lost her aunt, her mother, and her grandfather. All lost to the occult - to wild things that ran free in the night and ripped apart the happiness of the people they became involved with. All taken from them by the werewolves.

Now just because they were bitter didn't mean they weren't understanding. They knew that Scott and Derek and that little ragtag group of wolfpups weren't a true threat. The hurt that they had caused, it smarted still, but in a distant almost cauterized way. Anger and pain no longer raged at the forefront of every waking moment. As they sat at the kitchen table, hands clasped, once again terrified and endangered, the Beacon Hills' wolves were no longer the root of their problem. If Derek Hale's brief and deeply unsettling phone call was to be taken as truth, then something greater than they had ever faced was coming, at a time when they were still most vulnerable.

Chris sighed heavily and rubbed his daughter's hand "I've simply never heard of anything like it; an entire pack of alphas, and we're completely unprepared," they locked eyes, and she returned the gentle press of hands. He continued wearily, "there isn't anything we can do on our own. But I have some friends. Some very dear friends that I think will be able to prove essential to keeping whatever's coming contained"

"Who are they" Allison asked him sweetly, a spark of childlike curiosity visible on her face for a fraction of a second. For the first time in ages her father smiled a true smile that wasn't entirely wan and mournful "They're people who know how to find capture and kill things we don't even know about. People who can be trusted and relied on unconditionally. Allison, have you ever heard of the Winchesters?"

Five hundred miles away, Dean and Sam Winchester drove down a dusty country road with their windows wide open and heavy rock blasting through the speakers of Dean's black 67 Chevy Impala. His phone buzzed softly in his pocket, and Dean turned the music down to answer it.

"Hello? Argent! How've you been, man? I heard things have been gettin kinda crazy down in your neck of the woods. Condolences about Kate by the way" Sam shot him a questioning look and Dean shook his head briefly, holding up a finger. Dean paled and turned the stereo off altogether, pulling over to the side of the road and parking the impala.  
"Chris are you serious? I'm- I'm so sorry for your loss. Yeah buddy we can be there in a few hours. Damn straight we've got your back - and you know what, we're bringing reinforcements too. We might be a little longer, but we're gonna loop around and get Bobby. See you soon" and he hung up. Sam bombarded him with questions, but he waved them all away. "We're going to go help my good friend Chris break up some serious cujo mojo going down in California. Sam, how much do you know about the Argents?"  
_

Chris Argent sat across from Sam, Dean, and Bobby with a look on his face that could only be described as sheepish. What might possibly have been recounted as a gruesome war epic had come out shamefully more like a season recap of a teen drama. The part of the story featuring the high school winter formal had been especially embarrassing to get through. To their credit though they appeared to be taking the entire saga in with a great deal of seriousness, equal in intensity to the stoic aspect Derek Hale wore as he sat next to him.

As a professional hunter, that had been perhaps the most difficult thing to cough out. When they had come into his house and seen the fully-fledged alpha, their silver knives had shot into their hands from holsters under their sleeves, and they had moved to crouched defensive stances quicker than he had ever seen humans move before. To his utter humiliation, he'd quickly blurted out "Wait he's a good wolf!…" he'd gotten askance looks from all sides at that and he continued "What I mean to say is, We're allied with his pack. He's not the problem here. He's a friend" more askance looks from all around.

And so they had warily retired to the dining room to take coffee and light refreshments, and Chris had taken up the long and arduous task of filling them in on all recorded wolf activity that had happened in the area since the Hale fire. Derek supplied a good deal of the information, and the telling went by not too entirely gruelingly (If it had been a tv show the story they told probably would have only been a few half hour episodes. Dragging it out into full seasons would be ridiculous as there wasn't nearly enough plot meat to spare - a great deal of it was drama and it had really only taken place over the course of the last few months).

It was almost a funny picture, three grizzled hunters listening with rapt attention to a few month's worth of high school dynamics and dramas as if it were the most essential information they would ever hear in their lives. When the tale was told, there was silence for a few moments. Bobby rubbed his scruffy beard, Sam and Dean made strange pouty-eyebrow-puppy-faces at each other that seemed emotionally irrelevant but Chris wasn't going to question it, and Derek merely sat staring at them intently which Chris was sure was meant to be an intimidation tactic. he thought to himself that none of them had been graced with subtlety. Then he sighed heavily.

Bobby spoke first, which seemed to surprise everyone "So uh…Derek…I've gotta say I've never encountered anything like this, even in my rather thorough studies of werewolves and pack dynamics" to which he received a brief yet somehow apathetic nod "They're the only pack in Americas that's known to be comprised solely of alphas. That is to say, I do recall my family's pack records having shown that there have been some other historic occurrences in Europe and Africa, but those were all burned in the fire" he looked away for a moment and coughed lightly "I remember reading one of the books as a pup…as a child, and it accounted the ancient alpha packs of the deepest Eastern European realms. They were vicious and merciless, and though they didn't kill for sport there was no force alive that could stop them when they were out hunting or had a goal in mind. Some smaller meeker packs even worshiped them as gods in Germany and Russia, and all feared them. They haven't been seen in decades though - on a global level. The last alpha pack was reportedly seen in Bulgaria in the 50s. They had been fighting one of the elite sects of the Huntsmen, and fell off the map. That's all know - I don't know their intentions, but whatever their intentions are they are here now and they are unbelievably dangerous" he shook his head as if in wonder just thinking about the sheer potential energy they could be storing, just waiting to destroy this little town where everyone he loved was and had been.

The hunters all seemed pleased that he had been so forthcoming, and after a moment Sam answered him slowly "So correct me if I'm wrong here, but a pack grows in strength with the amount of wolves that are in it right?" nod "And usually the bulk of this power goes to the alpha, the leader of the pack, while residual energy is fed to the betas individually?" nod "And one of the major pack dynamics is the fact that there is only one person in control - the alpha and possibly his second in command?" nodnod "and packs are formed by beta wolves physically and emotionally submitting to this alpha wolf?" nodnod "So how does the alpha pack stay together? By it's very nature an alpha does not submit, an alpha is in charge and in control. If there were multiple alphas, wouldn't one submitting to another mean that they automatically became a beta?" shake no and pout.

Derek heaved an angsty sigh, but answered dutifully "You're actually right; to become an alpha you have to have either been born one, or have killed an alpha. However, that's not exactly the case with these wolves. The alpha packs aren't true packs, they're more almost…hunting groups. Werewolves can form close personal and mental bonds with each other without being part of a pack. These wolves stick together not because they have to, but because they know that together they're an indomitable force" Sam looked startled, and Dean spoke up for the first time "So you've got some serious cujo mojo on your hands and they're about to come down on your like a flaming shitstorm. And there's no way to take them out?" Derek gritted his teeth. He rolled his shoulders and dug his claws lightly into his thigh under the table to keep from wolfing out.

"We don't know their intentions yet, but they have the ability to effortlessly take this town off of the map. We need you for backup in case they're not here on peaceable terms, which they very likely might be. I haven't met or spoken with them yet, but their first move could be to attack. Then again as an ancient pack they might conduct themselves with diplomacy. But if they don't then everything breathing within a twenty mile radius is a good as dead" Bobby scrubbed at his beard again. He placed a hand on Dean's arm to restrain him from saying something sassy no doubt "Okay, so clearly to attack now would be a suicide wish - we're here on active reserve" Chris nodded eagerly "Which I can't tank you enough for by the way" they all made waving/shrugging don't-bother gestures at him. Sam piped up again "so if we're gonna stay for a while we should probably go find some place to stay in town that's close enough to-" "I'd like to invite you all to stay at my home in the woods" there was an awkward silence and Derek swallowed uneasily as if he couldn't believe what he'd just said.

He backpedaled a bit "What I mean to say is, I know you're all experienced hunters. And part of my personal beliefs that were held up by my original family pack is that it's important to keep on good terms and friendly with hunters. So partly I want you to get to know my pack a bit - they're mostly pups…children, and I'd feel a lot safer if you could be with them while I tried to instigate talks with the alphas, especially you Chris, they already know and trust you. Also anything that goes down is most likely going to start in the woods - it's pretty much the epicenter of all wolf activity here…" he rubbed at the back of his neck and they stared at him awkwardly. Dean chuckled a little "Well I'll be honest Derek; most of our lives we been hunters. We were brought up by a father who felt it necessary to be…indiscriminate in the slaying of all creatures supernatural. We're not total hippies, but now… now we know better. And If your pack is harmless then they're part of the folks we came to this town to help protect. So yes, we'll make your house our HQ for this operation" Derek's eyes widened and he gripped the table "Thank you. Thank you so very much"

And after a few brief moments of silence they began to move all at once, quickly grabbing things, packing bags, and getting into cars. And in the bright light of the midday sun, they made their way to the Hale house


	2. Chapter 2

Derek's sleek black camaro led the small caravan of cars through the backwood roads. He was followed by the impala, bobby's truck, and Chris' pretty maroon land rover. They turned off the main road and drove through the woods, pulling up shortly in front of the Hale house. Gathering in front of the porch, Derek cleared his throat, and his face flushed a light pink "Um please just remember that my pack are all pups…uh, teenagers. And they can get a bit rowdy and confrontational and stubborn…and uh, frivolous. So yeah, uh, sorry in advance for anything rude they say or do. I really appreciate your help" he looked like he was going to say more but suddenly his nostrils flared and his eyes widened and he threw the door open, bolting inside. They followed after him, startled to see him catching a boy as he fell down the stairs. he had the boy in a princess hold and was softly reprimanding him for being careless. The boy chuckled loudly and smacked a wet kiss to his cheek before jumping lightly to the ground. He patted the alpha's chest fondly "Oh please sourwolf, are you saying I'm not graceful?"

He peered around Derek's shoulder at the guests standing in the doorway and let out an excited whooping laugh, coming around to greet them "You guys must be the hunters Mr Argent told us about, Sam and Dean Winchester and Bobby Singer! Oh god am I glad to see you guys!" he shoved his hand out forward and rapidly shook each one awkwardly handed out to him "I'm Stiles and aside from old Sourwolf over there I'm basically the most important member of the pack. Token human, token possessor of common-sense and logic, alpha's mate, comic relief, all at your service!" Sam and Dean and Bobby all appeared amused, and Chris shook his head fondly, a small smile gracing his face. Stiles began bouncing wildly and hugged himself, spinning around in a small circle "This is fantastic that you're here, I'm gonna go get the others, be right back!" he ran off with a wave over his shoulder and a kiss blown at Derek, who looked thoroughly mortified.

Bobby let out a low laugh "Some kid. So he said he's a human pack member?" Derek nodded and gratefully took up the swift change in topic as the polite gift it had been "Yes, they're a critically vital component of any successful pack. They can go places and do things and meet people that we simply cannot. They help negotiations with hunters, which means you'll probably be seeing more of him, and since they have no ties to the pack other than human loyalty they can't be used against us or us against them. They're typically safe from all code-abiding hunters," he flushed a dainty shade of pink again and his face softened "Stiles has a bit of an ego, but he is extremely important to the pack. I'd normally never admit it, but he's definitely the smartest and the best strategist. Unfortunately he's also rather self sacrificing, always using himself as bait…But nevermind, here they come" he turned to the back entry where he knew the pack would burst out from in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, tadaa.

Lydia was the first to enter the room, in her ridiculous heels and vintage dress she looked like a starlet, and commanded attention like one. Shortly behind her were Scott, Jackson, Erica, Boyd, Isaac, and Danny. Stiles burst in panting "it's unsettling how eager you all are to leave me in your dust" but his face broke out in a foxy grin, and he bumped fists with Scott before making his way to sit next to Derk on the loveseat. The rest of the pack quietly filed in to sit on the floor near Derek's feet, sans Lydia who leaned delicately on the armrest of the sofa. He briefly introduced his pack, and they all greeted the hunters warmly enough. "Pack, these are the hunters that have come as backup-" "Hey there studmuffin" "Erica" Dean shifted uneasily in his chair. He was being leered at. By a sixteen year old werewolf. Goosebumps.

Sam giggled at his expense and took over "So we're not actually here to take an offensive. For all we know the pack coming in could be peaceable. We're gonna stay here with you while your alpha tries to find and talk to them. We know you guys are strong and fast and can probably take care of yourselves under normal circumstances, but these aren't normal. We have special tactics that should help keep everyone safe" he turned to his bag and pulled it onto his lap "The first measure of precaution we're going to take is salting the perimeter. This salt has been mixed with mountain ash so it should be doubly potent. Normally we'd only do the doors and windows, but these wolves can tear through walls like rice paper, so every inch of the inside of the house is getting a thick line of this stuff alright? Alright" he took out two huge bulk bags of salt and laid them on the floor, then began passing out supersoakers "Now I know this isn't something hunters usually use on werewolves, but should you find yourself in life-or-death peril, these should help at least get them to back off. If your aim is good. Each supersoaker is filled with holy water, no spraying each other please it hasn't been tested on human-form wolves, and if you need a refill we've got a ten gallon jug of it that we're gonna bring in fro the car. Any questions?"

In response Jackson said something especially douche-y and Stiles snapped back at him to not be such a great big bag of dicks. Suddenly a man appeared from nowhere in the middle of the room. he was by stiles side immediately he kneeled, his trenchcoat pooling on the ground, and reached out to Stiles' face with reverence "brother?" the visiting hunters all sighed heavily. Derek placed his hands around Stiles and pulled him into his lap. He growled viciously, a deep rumble in his chest that startled the man and made him stand and take a step back "Apologies. I was mistaken" the man said, moving to stand beside Dean. All the wolves on the floor bristled, Scott had stood up angrily and moved closer to his alpha and best friend protectively "Mind telling us who your friend is?" he demanded.

Bobby sighed and glared at the three, gesturing at the man to answer "I am Castiel, an Angel of the Lord. I share bonds with these humans. Forgive me for startling you, my brother Gabriel's last words were…quite similar to the ones you just uttered" he deadpanned. "Wait so I almost got touched by an Angel? Derek you always ruin cool things. You are a cool-thing-ruiner" the wolf in question let out a brief snort of amusement, but then glared at Stiles "Sorry I tried to protect you from the man that appeared in our home with the only apparent goal of touching your face. My mistake" Stiles grinned and kissed him on the cheek, then turned around only to let out another noise of surprise. Castiel and Dean were locked in what seemed like an intensely emotional wordless conversation. Their faces were mostly blank. Stiles giggled "Aren't you going to give that Castiel guy shit for using your patent pending brooding-glare-of-affection?" poutyface.

Bobby coughed loudly and the room silenced quickly. He glanced at Derek, "I believe you have an alpha pack to find, and I'm pretty sure time is, you know, of the essence here" he bobbed his head towards the door. Derek bristled, but he nodded "You're right, you're absolutely right. So I'm going to go and find them, and try to talk to them, and if anything goes wrong I'll howl. My pack will be able to what different howls mean, and they can relay it to you," he sighed deeply, he looked incredibly nervous. Turning to the kids he kneeled down beside them and his voice became softer, but edged with dominance "You listen to these men, you do as they say. Erica and Jackson you keep your damn mouths shut and you show them some respect. Scott, you can keep your phone, but if you so much as send Allison a single text it'll be unusable as scrap metal by the time I'm done with it. You all know Stiles is pack mom. Aside from the hunters, he's in charge while I'm gone. Jackson if you give him shit while I'm gone you'll regret it…Now all of you stay close. Absolutely no one leaves the house. Absolutely no one leaves the group without a buddy, even to go to another room. As soon as I'm gone, this house goes into total lockdown. Understood? UNDERSTOOD?" they all replied with meek "yes"es. Sam and Deam were mouthing to 'pack mom?' each other, Bobby looked exasperated, Castiel was staring at the wall, and Chris looked on with amusement.

They tested the ash-mixed salt, drawing a small circle around Derek. When he couldn't leave it or even come close to the line, they knew it would keep them safe in the house. Leaving a crack so he could get out, they lined the entire inside perimeter of the house, double lining the windows and doors. Throughout the whole procedure, Stiles looked uneasy. He stood with a hand on his hip, scratching his head. Finally he turned to Sam "Hey man, what if they dig in up from under the foundation? Or jump down onto the roof from the treetops?" He mulled it over "You're right Stiles, that could be catastrophic. Cas, can you infuse the roof and foundation with the ash?" the angel nodded grimly, disappeared, and then reappeared a moment later "It is done"

Stiles mouth hung open, He moved closer to Castiel, ignoring Derek's poutyface "Excuse me if the only answer we're supposed to know is angel-magic, but how did you do that man? You were gone for like, a fraction of a second" Cas seemed slightly uncomfortable, but he answered dutifully "I went to a higher plane, atomized the area, and then surrounded the roof and foundation particles with the ash dust" Stiles let out the most incredibly happy noise "Oh my god that is so incredibly cool. See what we'd be missing out on if you wolfed on this guy Dee? I need to go tell Lydia, this will absolutely get her math-nerd rocks off. AAH!" and he was stumbling into the other room eagerly. Castiel looked so dazed and confused that Sam coughed lightly and patted his shoulder "Thanks Cas. Can you keep guard and watch for the alpha pack? They're going to be really similar to him" he pointed at Derek "and there should be more than five but less than ten of them" he nodded, and was gone.

After sealing the entire house, Derek made to leave. He was stopped by Stiles tugging at the back of his shirt, pulling him down for a kiss and an embrace. He nuzzled his face into the crook of the younger man's shoulder "Stay here" he whispered "Stay safe. Look out for them" then he licked a stripe up his neck and looked at his pack "just remember what I told you. Listen to the hunters, listen to Stiles, listen to that Angel if he ever has anything to say. Just…be good"

Stiles said it so quietly it barely left his mouth, but Derek heard it loud as a bell "You stay safe. Don't play the martyr or the hero. I love you" and he left his house with a smile on his face.  
_

Derek could barely control his breathing as he made his way through the dense woods. Leaves crunched beneath his feet and branches swayed gently in his wake as he pushed past them. It reminded him of the scene in the last Harry Potter film; here he was recreating it, walking to his death like a self-sacrificing idiot. _Oh god_, he thought. He could feel his lungs fluttering as he hyperventilated, trying to pump the small amount of oxygen they had access to into his bloodstream. He remembered every time he had held Stiles as his body shook with panic and hysteria, and his chest ached. The muscles in his legs twitched and jumped beneath his skin with every heavy step. As he moved deeper into the woods he felt like his fear grow. He felt stupid and young and vulnerable.

What was he _doing_? They were going to_ kill _him. Probably on sight, probably without warning. He was never going to see his pack or his mate again, but worse, they would know the instant it happened. They wouldn't even have the comfort of a few hours' worth of ambiguous uncertainty. This would hurt them so much worse than it would hurt him.

And in that instant, as Derek fleetingly considered turning tail and scampering home, he felt three huge presences looming, felt the pull of alphas stronger and older than him. Impossibly old and unbearably strong. His knees wobbled. They had surrounded him and he hadn't even noticed. He swallowed and briefly closed his eyes, casting up a prayer to…something; he didn't know what. As he opened his eyes they blazed red and he focused all of his energy into staring the nearest one down "Why are you in my territory, and what do you want with my pack?"

The two that flanked him moved around slowly to stand with the one in front of him and he immediately felt deeply intimidated; they stood on all fours like true wolves, but were the size of horses. Course fur hung shaggy around their necks and shoulders, and along their backs were scars from centuries of battles. One, the largest of the three, had a heavy black spear jutting out of its back, broken off but lodged in the thick hide like a badge of glory, standing out in stark contrast to its pale tawny fur. Derek imagined the pain of a wound healing around something as small as an arrowhead, and winced in sympathy.

His fingers elongated into claws as the smallest among them shifted lazily into her human form; lithe and graceful, her hips splayed out wide from her dainty waist and cocked at a sharp angle as he crossed her arms and glared at him "Hale, we bring no quarrel to your doorstep other than one you yourself have cultivated. We have come to hunt and slay the abomination" her arm dropped and she curled her fist into the ruff of the huge pale wolf. Derek took a step forward, but aborted it when the two wolves began to growl fiercely "Are you talking about the kanima? Because it's been taken care of; it's become a wolf again. It's safe and stable and it hasn't hurt anyone"

The woman inhaled slowly "We're well aware that you killed the kanima and accepted it into your pack. There are pieces missing though, there are things you do not know and do not understand. You haven't seen you uncle since that night, have you? He helped you kill the beast, struck the killing blow, and then vanished. You can try to tell me I'm wrong, but I'll hear your lying heart. I know, boy." Derek shifted uncomfortably, clenching his fists "Okay, I won't lie. You're right about what happened, but what does it mean? How is it important or relevant?"

Her eyes softened but her voice remained icy "Your uncle Peter lay dead once, and he should have stayed that way. The ritual he performed to bring himself back to this world is forbidden because it is a curse. It is evil magic so dark and so foul that it burns and corrodes and corrupts. This is because it is born from man's vices, hate and fear, born from the blackness that each human carries within themself. It is unforgiveable and it is all consuming. Even if he had not become further tainted by the kanima's blood, there would be no fate for him but death. And that is a fate that we have come to oversee"

His brow furrowed and he paused for a moment "So you're not going to harm us?"

She cocked her head "What? No, child. We come to…assist. What you must understand is that the only thing worse than a kanima is killing one. The kanima is a cursed being, born from desire and twisted by human vices. They may be evil incarnate, they may be the embodiment of desperation and jealousy and vengefulness, but they themselves are innocent, servants to a master that controls them. Though the kanima is an abomination, its purpose is pure. It becomes a creature of justice. But the hand of morality can serve as a catalyst for slaughter indiscriminate in the wrong hands." Her arm flexed and her voice broke. The wolf to her left shifted into its human form; tall and stocky, built heavy and powerful, she stood unabashed and earnest with her long raven hair hanging limp down her back.

Stepping forward, she ran a finger down the bridge of Derek's nose as one would to a puppy. "You have the kanima's blood on your hands, and that alone is a cause for concern, but I am more than certain that despite that, your act was selfless and your intentions were pure. You meant only to give the creature solace, and to protect those that it would harm. Your uncle though, your uncle has very likely become something we have never before encountered. There is simply no telling what the combination of the two curses did to him. As if his soul wasn't tarnished enough from the death ritual, now he has the blood of the kanima on his hands, and it has properties unknown fully even to ourselves. We have deliberated, and are sure that this was planned; we have no doubt that these two events were put into motion by outside forces. Which means that something is helping him. We are here to investigate, and we are here to combat Peter. You have our cooperation as long as we have yours."

Derek was about to say something unpleasantly discourteous when his nose did some investigating of its own. It discovered something that gave him pause. Before, he had been so cloaked in the stench of his own fright that he hadn't noticed the equally acrid fear of the alphas. Once he caught the scent of it, it hit him like a freight train; they weren't just _concerned_ about Peter, they were _terrified_. He whuffed in deeply and took in great lungfulls of the rank odor of heavy emotion that surrounded them. Somehow they had sources that kept them informed of the minutiae of his town, they had known about this for ages, and he could tell because the smell had soaked in over time and grown powerful, potent. And it was at that moment that they won him over completely. They had been dreading coming here. They, the strongest and wisest of his kind, feared for their lives. Then he thought back to their voices. Under the frantic prey-like beating of his own heart, theirs' had remained steady. They were in a nightmare of abject horror, and they hadn't lied to him once.

"I don't know how I'll explain this to my pack, and I don't know how much we'll really be able to help if he's become something worthy of your attention, but you're welcome to come to my den. We'll join you as best as we can in battling my uncle, and we'll be happy to have you stay in our home."

And the women smiled, and their companion made a noise of contentment from its spot on the forest floor, and they followed him back through the woods the way he came. And he wondered whether he was walking back alive, or bringing home death to the people he cared about most in the world.


End file.
